1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to identification of operating conditions of switching elements by a single terminal, and in particular to methods and devices for identification of operating conditions of switching elements by a single terminal utilized in control panels of consumer electronic devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Due to advances in semiconductor technology, chip design has become more complex, with density of logic gates increases accordingly. Integration of function of multiple conventional chips into one chip, system on chip (SOC), cost is increased accordingly due to an increase in chip area. Moreover, inputs and outputs between modules become more complex. As input/output pins increase, costs of chip fabrication and package and complexity of further chip testing are increased.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional control panel 100. As shown, each switching element 12 is coupled to an input/output terminal (pin) 14 of the control chip 10. Accordingly, operating conditions of each switching elements is input to the control chip 10 through the corresponding input/output terminal 14. As chip area increases with addition of input/output terminals 14, cost is increased accordingly. Thus, a decrease in input/output terminals of chips is needed to lower cost.